Topics For Discussion
From Covenant Group News
An occasional newsletter about Covenant Group Ministry read by 830
forward-looking Unitarian Universalists.
Vol. 4, No. 9C September 10, 2002
(See also Session Plan and Readings)
Our Arlington, VA, church is only a few blocks from the Pentagon. When
last Sept. 11 happened, the ministry team there had begun a series of
monthly sermons called "The Big Questions." These were delivered
by the Rev. Joan Gelbein and the Rev. Michael McGee, with the other
member of the team, the Rev. Linda Olson Peebles, leading the children
in a monthly service on the same questions, and with 15 of the church’s
25 Covenant Groups making them central to their meetings.
Although this program had been planned long before 9/11, the questions
served well in the aftermath of that event. McGee writes, “They
gave people the chance not only to ask the big questions that were so
prominent in everyone's minds, but to have others to listen, to respond,
and to share feelings and ideas.”
One or more of these questions may be useful to Covenant Group Ministries
in this month of reflection.
What is the meaning of life?
Why do we need religion?
Why evil? How do I know what I know?
How do we face death?
Why do we suffer?
What does it mean to be human?
How can we survive?
The Arlington church’s ministry team has "The Challenge of
Religious Pluralism: Searching for the Big Answers," as its theme
for the current church year. The focus will be on the answers proclaimed
by the religions of the world. Covenant Group participants will discuss
those answers to see which they find helpful and which they do not.
McGee says, “The premise of this series was that we find deeper
meaning in our lives when we have the courage to ask the big questions
of life and then to faithfully seek to answer those questions.”
INTERDEPENDENCE DAY?
Linda Van Blaricom and her friend, K. A. Buckelew, have been discussing
the idea of a Unitarian Universalist holiday to be called “Interdependence
Day.”
Van Blaricom writes, “I think that Sept. 11 might be a good date
for such a holiday so I am passing this idea on to you to share with
other UU's and see if the time has come for such a holiday. Given that
our Principles and Purposes include respect for the interdependent web,
it seems a natural to my mind to create a special holiday that would
underline the incredible importance of our interdependence.”
K. A. Buckelew, a member of the Covenant Group Van Blaricom facilitates,
has designed art work that could be a symbol for “Interdependence
Day.” She and Van Blaricom propose that Covenant Groups consider
how such a holiday might come about, whether it should be connected
to remembrance of 9/11, how people might be educated about it, and how
it could best be celebrated.
